Editor’s Note: Daily Caller High is a group of young writers cutting their teeth in the world of political punditry. This week, the authors’ reflect on events of the past few days.
At Least Be Honest About It
By Brandon Kiser
In 2008, the Association of Community Organizers for Reform Now became an issue for the Obama campaign. Over time, many people forgot about it. ACORN had been a part of numerous voter-fraud allegations and then-candidate Barack Obama’s relationship with the group was brought into question. Before these ties were made, Obama said that “When I ran Project Vote, ACORN was smack dab in the middle of it. Once I was elected there wasn’t a campaign that ACORN worked on down in Springfield that I wasn’t right there with you. Since I have been in the United States Senate I’ve been always a partner with ACORN as well. I’ve been fighting with ACORN on issues you care about [throughout] my entire career.”
The campaign ended and Obama was elected president. A few months later, Andrew Breitbart released the videos of James O’Keefe and Hannah Giles pretending, respectively, to be a pimp and hooker attempting to set up a brothel and eschew the tax code. Before you know it, ACORN’s funding was cut off by Congress (for the time being).
In new footage, Obama was caught in a mistruth about his past associations with the group. He said: “My relationship with ACORN is pretty straightforward. It’s probably 13 years ago, I represented ACORN and my partner in that investigation was the US Justice department in having Illinois implement what was called the motor voter law. That was my relationship and is my relationship to ACORN.”
So which is it? Was Obama with ACORN every step of the way or just representing them with the DOJ on motor-voter laws? A little honesty can go a long way, but most people expect it from the highest office in the United States.
Nancy Pelosi is a fan of Tea Parties?
By Jackie Seal
Speaker Nancy Pelosi sat down for an interview with ABC’s Elizabeth Vargas. During their discussion Pelosi made a shocking statement saying she and the Tea Partiers have common ground. She claimed she and Tea Partiers are both looking to fight special interest. But, let’s backtrack a bit shall we? In case you forgot Nancy Pelosi wasn’t exactly a fan of the Tea Partiers this summer. She called them “un-American.” She also referred to them as astro-turf and carrying swastikas. And of course, who can forget when she was on the verge of tears because she was worried about the potential violence tea partiers could cause.
Well, I’ve got a newsflash for the Speaker of the House. The only think you have in common with Tea Partiers is that you’re both Americans. But that’s about it. The fact of the matter is the people at Tea Parties are protesting against Nancy Pelosi and other tax and spend politicians like her. Tea Partiers are focused on reducing the growth of government and ending the taxing and spending going on in Washington, the very things Nancy Pelosi has supported.
Noel Sheppard at Newsbusters.org points out, “Less than six months later, the Speaker can talk about what she shares in common with these folks, and a so-called journalist doesn’t bother mentioning what she had said about them in the past.” Good call, Mr. Sheppard!
Oh, and Nancy, if you have so much in common with them, why not show up at a Tea Party and protest with them?
You can’t play both sides of the street
By Ian Pringle
In a 2003 MoveOn.org letter, Howard Dean stated that the Patriot Act was “taking away our civil liberties”. This is a statement most Americans can agree with, and for me this is one of the only statements Dean and I can agree on. When I think back to George Bush and how liberals felt about him four things come to mind. Liberals thought Bush looked like a monkey, they though he had the intelligence of a slug, they hated “his” war, and they loathed the Patriot Act.
On Dec. 16, 2005, Obama voted NO on extending the Patriot Act’s wiretapping provision (HR.3199), however over the weekend Obama signed a one-year extension of the very provision he voted against in 2005.
To those of us who understand progressives this comes as no surprise. The Patriot Act extends the powers of the government beyond the level any “common sense” thinker would allow. However the real surprise will come on MSNBC and CNN this week when their talking heads grudgingly bring this topic up. As good partisan reporters they will undoubtedly comment on this for a total of ten seconds before moving on to how this is really Bush’s fault for creating the Patriot Act in the first place.
Brandon Kiser is a Kentucky high school student. He writes as an assistant editor for 73wire.com, blogs at the American Kiser, and can be found on Twitter @BrandonKiser. Cole Campbell is a 14-year-old Christian conservative. He can be found on Twitter as @paidgophack and blogs at The Handwriting on the Wall. Jackie Seal is a high school senior who blogs at Red, White and Conservative and can be found on Twitter at @JackieSeal. Ian Pringle is an 18-year-old conservative. He blogs at 17 Pages and can be found on Twitter as @Pard68.